First of all, I want to thank all of you veteran posters who stick around and answer the same 5 or 6 questions over and over again to all of us who aren't well versed in getting visas for our significant others. You all do a great service.

So I'm doing a K-1 visa for my Thai lady. We already filled out the initial application and it's been received by USCIS.

I know that for the K-1 Visa, you need to prove that you make at least 18k a year. My question is, how do they calculate that? I've been abroad for the last 3 1/2 years. I taught ESL for two years in Korea, then I got my master's degree in England, and then spent about six months in Thailand, where I met my fiancee.

My problem is, if they only look at the past year's tax returns, since I've been living abroad, even though I had to file, I didn't have to report my earnings. And last year, since I was a student, I didn't have any earnings.

Now, with my current job, I make well over the minimum, but I don't know how that will figure in to the way they calculate it, if they only go off tax filings or not. Can somebody help fill me in on how it works and what I should do?

Thanks

There are a few different ways of filing AOS (Affidavit of Support).

1) Show the last year's tax return (which you don't have available) + current employment pay stubs;

2) Show the current year employment's pay stubs for the past 6 months ( if you have made over 18K,it should be enough) + a letter from your employer; This should be your best choice,i guess. That's what i am going for right now with my C1 visa for my Thai wife.

3) Find someone to co-sign your AOS ( mother,siblings ,a friend...);

4) Have a 100K in your bank account available at any time;

5) Own a house,worth at least 100K

That's all i am aware of.

Good Luck.

I went trough the K1, I owned a company in Thailand and had a salary that met the requirements, but I needed to show I can support her in the USA, which I just had my company say I would keep getting paid while in the USA, besides this I also had my brother co-sign the support affidavit and this was accepted.

I do want to point something out to you, as you said you still need to file a return which is correct, but you still need to report any and all earnings, does not matter where the earnings come from. If living abroad in which you stayed out of the USA for 330 consecutive days then you qualify for I believe it is now $93,000 USD deduction, but you still need to file a return and report all your earnings, does not matter if you owes taxes or not. Be careful about this one of my friends did the same as you and did not claims his earnings and then they audited him and went through everything gave him a real hard time thinking he was trying to hide earnings.

Thanks for the replies! Very helpful.

I do want to point something out to you, as you said you still need to file a return which is correct, but you still need to report any and all earnings, does not matter where the earnings come from. If living abroad in which you stayed out of the USA for 330 consecutive days then you qualify for I believe it is now $93,000 USD deduction, but you still need to file a return and report all your earnings, does not matter if you owes taxes or not. Be careful about this one of my friends did the same as you and did not claims his earnings and then they audited him and went through everything gave him a real hard time thinking he was trying to hide earnings.

Wow...I have filed, but I haven't reported my earnings in the past 3 years. Off topic, but what do you think I should I do to remedy this?